The Adventures of River Song
by x-Avarice-x
Summary: What does she do when the Doctor isn't around? A one-shot series about the many times River is without the Doctor, and about a few times when she isn't.
1. The Thing About Mels

Hello everyone! I've seen and read a lot of these one-shot series about River and the Doctor, but there's a lot of River by herself that we don't see. What does River do when the Doctor isn't around? That's what this little one-shot series hopes to address. All one-shots will be in a random order of whatever I feel like writing. The Doctor may or may not make an appearance, depending on the chapter, but these will largely be River without him mucking about. Hope you all like! I will absolutely take prompts, so feel free to give them.

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. I'm just borrowing the pretty lady for a while.

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><p>The Thing about Mels was, you never really knew what she was up to. She would fight and steal and, most of time, you wouldn't know she did it until a week later. She was unpredictable, like a wildfire that seemed to feed on nothing, yet still grow in size and strength.<p>

The Thing about Mels was, she never really told the truth. She liked to make up stories, fanciful notions that she told herself, all the while keeping others firmly grounded in reality. It took talent, that much was certain. Amy mothered her same-age daughter, though that daughter was often rebellious and questionably sane.

It was funny to her, after it was all over. They never asked her where she'd been. When she regenerated and gave the Doctor her lives, they left her in that space hospital all alone. And she was glad, after a fashion, because otherwise they'd have realised something that she really didn't feel like explaining.

She regenerated in _1969_. She found her parents around 1990. Mels did _not_ want to explain where those twenty years went.

Oh, it wasn't _all_ bad. She was an urchin on the street for a good bit of it. Pickpocketing became her favorite past time and she was _good_. She'd only been caught once, by a funny-looking man in a leather coat, with big ears and a British accent, who insisted he didn't have a wallet to steal. He looked a bit familiar to her, but she brushed it off. Maybe she'd seen him before; she was in New York now, after all, where the same people did the same things every same day. New York, New York was a much better place to leech off the populace, and there were boats. Marvelous, amazing boats that would take her to her parents when it was time. But they were not yet born, so she waited.

It was 1986 when she finally got a proper job. Well, it wasn't a _proper_ proper job. She didn't have an identity in this country, after all. They paid her in cash, a bit under the table, but she was a waitress in 1986. Melody would schmooze every last cent out of the old geezers that would come in every morning for coffee. She was pretty in this regeneration, there was no doubt about that. Thin waist, creamy skin, and bright green eyes. The young woman made record tips, much to the chagrin of the other working girls.

She saved up for a fancy, fake passport, one that could get her safely to England. And to Leadworth. It took longer to save for a boat ticket. As nice as it would have been to sneak onto a boat, paying for one ensured that the crew wouldn't do what they liked with her if they found her as a stowaway. She wasn't particularly strong, unfortunately. Not this time. And she didn't have a gun, though getting one might be easy. She decided against it. This regeneration was a bit more cautious, it seemed.

And so it was that she boarded a boat in early 1990 and set off for England. She was done with all this American Cold War rubbish. It was all so boring.

Physically, she was about 20 years old, which was 20 years too old. After arriving in England, she pondered about regeneration on her trek to Leadworth. Maps were not useful in the least, so it took her a bit longer than she wanted to get there. But nevertheless, she arrived in early summer, 1990.

Leadworth was tiny. She didn't quite remember all the details of her parents, only that they both lived here, and met here, and got married here. Some day.

After much stalking around, she came upon the Williams residence, where a young boy of one or two lived. She almost pretended to be new in town, to give them a chance to get to know her, so that she could babysit her father (how odd was that thought?), but eventually decided against it. She needed to regenerate, to grow up alongside him. Them. Her mother and father.

She pondered... what would it even be? It couldn't be suicide, she wouldn't actually die. Melody, for she did not call herself Mels yet, pondered the thought that, perhaps, she could simply force herself to regenerate. It wasn't a completely ludicrous idea, in her mind. She only had to force it out.

As Fate would have it, she never got the chance to try. Deep in thought with this conundrum left her walking the streets and sidewalks of Leadworth alone at night. An elderly man driving a car turned the corner just as she stepped off the curb.

It was an accident - a freak accident - made ever more strange by the glowing girl on the pavement. Melody only told the man not to be afraid, that she would be okay. The man blubbered apology after apology, but she managed to calm him down. She promised him that she would be alright, and that no harm would come to him. To placate him, Melody told him that she would change soon, and he had to take her to the nearest orphanage. He nodded, promising her that he would, not quite understanding what she meant.

After she regenerated, he screamed in fright and ran, leaving his car in the middle of the road.

Thankfully, a middle aged woman in a nearby house heard the screams and saw the man's car. The woman knew the man well, but she had no idea why he'd suddenly leave his vehicle out, and running no less. She walked outside in the cool air and heard a baby crying.

Melody, now Mels with her dark skin and hair, lay blubbering in the middle of the street, all wrapped up in clothes much too big for her. The woman stared in amazement, then scooped up the child and took her inside. In time, the baby would grow into Mels and attend the same school as Rory Williams and Amelia Pond.

They would later figure out that Melody-Mels-River had quite a reputation for showing up places whether she was wanted there or not. She hijacked TARDISes, kissed Doctors, and generally made a ruckus everywhere she went. She always made her presence known, after twenty years of being by herself.

After all, she was the daughter of two time travellers, and that warranted _some_ attention.


	2. Another Pond

"I'm only saying it's a good idea!" River insisted, bustling about her parents' kitchen. She was on one of her rare visits, made even more rare by the fact that the Doctor was not currently with her. The half Time Lady set the tea kettle on the stove and turned the contraption on.

"It's a terrible idea," Amy said firmly, fighting with a potato that refused to be peeled.

"How is it terrible?" River asked, setting to chopping the carrots on the cutting board. Rory stood on the other side of his wife, resigned to onion duty.

"What if it gets kidnapped like you did?" Amy asked, Scottish lilt in full force.

"I only got kidnapped because you two," River pointed at each one with the tip of her knife, "had your wedding night in the TARDIS. I'm half Time Lord, that's the only reason."

Rory said nothing, only continued to mince the onions. The crock pot between the three of them was full of broth and chunks of beef, waiting for the vegetables and heat to make it into a delicious stew.

"That was a horrifying experience," Amy said sullenly, almost cutting her finger by accident. "I didn't even know I was pregnant with you until I went into labor."

"But you still loved and cared for me," River said in a sing-song voice. She scooped the carrots into the pot, watching them sink to the bottom. "All I'm saying is, it would be nice to have a brother or sister."

"And how am I going to explain _that_?" Amy said pointedly. "You're older than both of us right now."

River shrugged. "Time travel."

"A kid wouldn't understand that," she replied, victorious in dicing one of the more frustrating spuds.

"They wouldn't have to. They'd get older, then understand. I'd just be their big sister, that's all." River finished the final carrot and felt like she'd done a satisfactory job, considering her cooking skills were rather sub-par. "What do you think, Dad?"

Rory paused in his chopping. "Um. Well. That is..."

"What?" Amy asked, spinning around to face him. "You don't agree with her, do you?"

"Of course I agree with her," he mumbled, tossing the onions into the pot. "I wasn't even there when she was born. I only got to hold her once and it wasn't even the real her."

Amy paused. "Okay," she conceded. "That's true."

"It would be nice to have a baby we can actually raise," Rory pointed out, wetting a sponge with warm water. "Not that we'd trade you, River," he added hurriedly.

River only smiled. "I know you wouldn't. You both deserve to be parents under normal circumstances, even if it's just once, considering everything that's happened."

Amy kept silent, but thought to herself. Babies were hard work, but... She remembered holding flesh-Melody, how she felt so real, and warm and adorable. Not being able to raise her had hurt more than she even let Rory know. A baby could be... good. Maybe.

"It's not like you'd have to have it tomorrow," River added, setting the pot on high. "You're both still young, you've got plenty of time before Mum dries up-"

"Before I _what_?" Amy grabbed the sponge from Rory's hand and threw it at her daughter, incredulous and full of mirth. "You watch your mouth, young lady! I _will _get the soap!"


	3. Class

"Miss Song?"

River paused in her explanation of 43rd century civilizations to call on the girl in the second row who just raised her hand. "Yes?"

"Is it true that you're married?"

River raised an eyebrow as half the class murmured and the other half giggled. "What does that have to do with the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire?"

"Nothing," the girl said innocently. "But several of the students have seen you around the city with a man in weird clothes."

She couldn't help but smirk at the 'weird clothes' remark. "I do keep telling him to get rid of the shoes."

"So there is a man! You've got a husband!" the girl accused triumphantly. A much louder murmur made its way through the lecture hall. Professor River Song was the most enigmatic and mysterious professor that Luna University had ever had. It didn't help that it was also the woman's Alma Mater. Rumors flew faster than a Vespiform around this place, she knew that all too well. She was still earning her Ph.D at this point, but that didn't help matters. Surely a beautiful college student earning her doctorate had a man somewhere?

"I wouldn't call him that, not exactly," River said indulgently. "It's a bit... complicated."

"Oh, you would say that!"

The entire class turned to the back, where one of the two double doors was held open by an odd man in, of course, weird clothes. He slipped into the room and let the door bang shut behind him. River only laughed. "Well hello, sweetie."

"Don't you 'sweetie' me, you just told them we weren't married!" The Doctor huffed, bounding down the stairs by twos to firmly interrupt her class. The entire class was speaking loudly now, both to each other and the couple at the front of the room. The strange man in the bow tie suddenly took a glimpse at the information that River was presenting and scoffed. "Why are you teaching them this? You know it's all wrong."

"That's not the point," she replied sweetly. "It's accepted history here, I can't teach anything else, no matter how accurate or how... intimately I know said events."

"Bah!" The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the projector in the ceiling. The machine popped and squealed, sparking in protest until it promptly shut down. The class cheered, to be perfectly honest.

"Doctor, that's University property!" she admonished, hitting him in the arm semi-playfully. "Honestly, like a four year old, always breaking toys!"

The Doctor completely ignored her and turned to the class, proceeding to tell them the _real_ history of the Second Great And Bountiful Human Empire. She tried, but there really was no stopping that man.

River only shook her head in defeat and decided this was the perfect time for an early lunch. Or a solo trip in the TARDIS, if she could find it.


	4. Stepmother

River's still kinda young in this one. Somehow, I don't think this is really how they'd act around one another, but since each one doesn't know who the other is... then maybe. Haha.

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><p>Oh, how the Sontarans hated her.<p>

She liked to keep herself occupied with this and that when the Doctor wasn't around. Truth be told, he wasn't around as much as she'd like, but sometimes that was alright. Sometimes, she could use her _own_ methods to achieve a goal, which usually included shooting something or blowing the something up. As it happened, both of those things occurred today.

The smell of fire and explosives was thick in the air and she found the scent pleasant. Blowing up half of one of the Sontaran Battle Fleets with homemade explosives shoved into the engines was her idea of a good time. They'd landed on a randomly chosen planet shortly before exploding, so she was able to make a getaway without using her vortex manipulator. The last thing she needed was them tracking her temporal coordinates.

On a whim, she snaked her way into the nearby forest. She made sure that none of the potato-men were following her and began to type the coordinates of the Stormcage into the manipulator. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of what seemed to be blond hair and a voice that was cursing in a most colorful manner. Curious, she followed the voice until she found a surprising sight: there was a crashed spaceship in the middle of the forest. It was laying on its side, largely undamaged externally, but the woman's vehement cursing let River know there was probably something internally wrong with it. The ship looked a bit old fashioned for 6015, but she was so used to time travelling at this point, perhaps it was perfectly normal.

River took the initiative despite the nearby smouldering Sontaran ships. She raised her hands to cup her mouth and shouted, "Hello up there?"

A moment later, a woman with very blond hair poked her head out of the cockpit. "Oh, hello!" she said in a rather friendly tone, contrasting her earlier curses. "I haven't seen another person for ages!"

River only asked, "Is your ship damaged?"

"Yes," the woman said, rolling her eyes. "I have no idea what's wrong with it. I fueled up two planets over, and it suddenly gave out. I got sucked into this planet's orbit for a while, then fell to the surface."

River raised an eyebrow, "How did you land it without destroying the outer hull?"

"Oh!" the woman jumped down, landing on her feet much to River's surprise. She was thin as a rail, but apparently many times stronger. "It's a newly developed impact-resistant metal alloy. It never used to have that shielding, but I had it upgraded recently. Good thing too, or I'd be a smear of blood right about now..."

"There are Sontarans around, you know," River pointed out. "I can take you home, if you like." She flashed the vortex manipulator, but the girl vehemently shook her head no.

"That's nice of you, but I really can't. I sort of... stole this ship. I keep telling myself I'm going to return it some day, so it has to come with me," she said, a bit sheepishly.

"Mind if I take a look, then?" River asked sweetly. This girl seemed sweet enough and leaving her here where Sontarans might show up wouldn't be the nicest thing to do. And really, stealing things just made this blond girl a human after her own heart. "_Helping __people_," she scoffed to herself. "_What __the __Doctor __does __to __me__, __I __swear__..._"

"If you think you can do something, please do!" The girl led River up a series of steps and into the cockpit, where the main console had been ripped open, with cords and wires pointing in every which direction.

"Well there's your problem," River murmured, peeking into the maze. "Your energy converters are shot. I can tell by the wiring, it's gone black. Burned up, I imagine."

The girl put her hands on her hips in irritation. "This planet has almost no cities, much less anything like that." She scratched her head, causing a few hairs to float away from her ponytail of their own accord.

"I can fix them, I think," River said, pulling up her sleeves. "Give me a bit."

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After over-enthusiastically preparing River something to eat from her sparse food store as a thank you, the girl finally introduced herself as Jenny. The two women chatted pleasantly as River spent a few hours rooting around in the console, then going back and forth between said console and the engine room.

"So, why did you steal the ship?" River inquired, when the girl gave her a second to talk.

"Ah, long story," Jenny murmured, sipping at her drink. "My dad travels a lot. I wanted to go with him but..." She trailed off, then shook her head. "Anyway, I decided to travel on my own after he left. I've been to a bunch of planets since then. Took up a bit of drawing too, as a hobby. Still can't repair my own ship, though. Obviously."

"Well you did steal it," River said from under the console. "It seems pretty old."

"I think it is," Jenny replied.

Suddenly, the ship gave a jolt and the console lit up. Jenny let an exclamation of glee and clapped her hands together. River pulled herself up from the floor. "Well, I think that's it. It should get you to the next solar system, and you can get proper replacements."

"Thank you so much!" Jenny said, enveloping River in a hug of excitement and relief. River awkwardly returned the gesture, smiling at the girl's child-like nature.

From outside, a sound reached River's ears. "Oh no, walking potatoes."

"Walking... what?" Jenny ran to the cockpit window, only to spot a battalion of Sontaran soldiers headed straight for her ship. "Ack!"

River hurriedly began punching coordinates into her vortex manipulator. "No offense Jenny, but they're after me and I really do need to go."

Jenny was strapping herself into the pilot's chair. "I understand perfectly, River. Thank you again for fixing my ship. I'll find you again some day, and I'll thank you properly somehow."

River only smiled. "No need, dear. Just get away from them and you'll be alright."

"Deal," said Jenny with a grin, and started the engine, which burst to life as if it had never been dead.

River hit the final button on her manipulator, catching a sketch of something blue out of the corner of her eye as she left, but convinced herself that it must have been her imagination.


	5. Pompeii

She decided this must be his fault somehow.

Her vortex manipulator ensured that she was on the archaeology team for this monumental event. The year was 1860 and she was under the watchful eye of Giuseppe Fiorelli, the famous Italian archaeologist that helped to excavate Pompeii. Sneaking onto the team as a woman took quite a bit of hallucinogenic lipstick, but it all ended up working out in the end.

River had traveled some distance into the city, trying to discern any shapes that could look like streets, to map out the area. They would be focusing on centers of commerce and buildings in which they could likely find remains. After choosing a section of the city to excavate, the large team set to work.

It had been several months since they arrived, and only now were they beginning to find fruits of their labors. Explosives were highly frowned upon, as they could damage the structure of the mummified buildings. She used them anyway, of course, but as discretely as possible. Small ones. Most of the time.

And now she was excavating a house. This particular building had much of its internal structure unmarred by ash or lava; it was far enough from the volcano that its rage had only covered the house, not invaded it. She happily dug through the dust and dirt, finding the remains of a human here or there. She let her emotions find no quarter here; mourning over a child lost almost two thousand years before would do her no good.

When she found the circuit boards, she almost laughed aloud. They were rudimentary at best, but they definitely made a circuit when placed together in order. River was careful to hide them until she could come back for them later. A circuit in ancient Pompeii would be sure to cause a hubbub, not to mention more questions than she could shake a blaster at, ones that she did not feel like dealing with.

No, she would hide them, then take them to him. He would surely know where they came from.


	6. The Death Of A Good Man

River couldn't believe that she couldn't remember Madame Kovarian. She didn't remember anything from being a child in the spacesuit. It was reasonable that she couldn't remember the Silence, but _Madame __Kovarian_?

The beasts wrestle her into the spacesuit, the woman who is fated to kill the Doctor. She fights and tears at their strangely colored skin. She is young - so very young - and she doesn't realise that the Doctor is meant to die. Sure, she was raised to kill him, but that's different. That isn't a fixed point in time, that was just Berlin. She used to have an urge, an unmistakable pull toward him, to bury a bullet in his heart, and then copy the action, but she never really knew why, not exactly. Only that she must.

And now, that's the last thing she wants to do. She screams as they touch her with their cold hands. Madame Kovarian only watches, to be sure that the deed is done as it should be. They lock her into the suit. She can't get out, and it begins to move of its own accord. This, more than anything else, frightens her. That she isn't in control of her own movements, her own body, is utterly terrifying. She had a bit of success fighting them, but none against this hunk of plastic and metal parts. They place the helmet over her head and it drowns out her pleading. Madame Kovarian seems pleased and she lets them take her, down, down, to the bottom of a lake in the middle of nowhere, Utah.

She feels herself falling, not entirely certain how she got down here. She's afraid of dying, certainly, but more afraid that she'll never see the Doctor again. All she feels and sees is darkness, and her tears steadily fill the helmet.


	7. A Meeting Of Universal Proportions

It's a rare day when River Song leaves her prison cell and doesn't seek out the Doctor. There's a reason for it, of course; she has to see a man about a thing.

That is, she has to rescue an ancient, priceless artifact from an evil museum curator. She has it on good knowledge that the man is trying to sell a piece of a Sontaran battleship back to the First Sontaran Battle Fleet. This particular piece is an energy converter from the older, more efficiently built Sontaran ships, before the war with the Rutan Host drained their supplies so severely that they resorted to shooting down any ships within 10 light-years and using their metal for scrap. Even one energy converter could restore a large percentage of the efficiency and speed with which the Sontarans build their ships and clone their troops. It was dangerous to give the Sontarans, known for invading other planets, this type of technology, even if they did invent it in the first place.

She is pleased to find that her vortex manipulator takes her to the museum in the middle of the night, where no one is around but security. Each display is encased in a special type of glass that even she can't break through, but she doesn't need to. The converter must be in the curator's office and, luckily, she happens to know her way around this place.

River sneaks to the curator's office and picks the lock to get inside. She _could_ use the vortex manipulator, but the coordinates are so similar that she'd risk materializing inside herself, and that could cause... well, problems.

The door slides open silently, on well oiled hinges. She shuts it behind her and makes a beeline for the safe after turning on the desk light. It's a top notch model, with as many locks and scans as a Princess's chastity belt. She skips all of these and pulls out a small, metal gun. She changes the setting and it turns into a torch, capable of burning through the toughest of metals.

It takes several minutes, but she manages to cut the door off. Inside is the precious hunk of metal that she needs. Well, wants. _Well_... The Doctor is the one who _really_ wants it, but she offered to steal it because stealing was so much fun.

She pockets the gun-torch as a voice speaks out of the darkness. "You're obviously not an amateur. I'm impressed, Miss Song."

River jumps higher than she'd ever jumped before; her heart beats frantically from sheer surprise and her free hand flies to her chest. "Oh goodness, you scared me."

A man materializes out of the shadows in the corner. He is tall, fit, with dark hair. He's quite good-looking, she thinks, before shaking her head to regain her bearings. He speaks again, "I just wanted to see if you could actually take it."

"And you couldn't?" she says sweetly, starting for the door. "A big, strong man like you?"

The man steps in front of her, hands in the pockets of his trenchcoat. "I'm sorry, Miss. I can't let you pass."

"That's awfully rude," River replied flirtatiously, not the least bit flustered. She paused. "I don't think I've seen your handsome face around before. But you obviously know who _I_ am. So, who are you?"

The man can't help but smile a bit. She's very pretty and it's hard not to flirt back, even when on hired business. "The name is Captain Jack Harkness."

River's face lights up with surprise and a hint of recognition, which confuses him. "Oh... _You__'__re_ the Captain. I see."

Jack raises and eyebrow. "You've heard of me, then?"

River smirks. "A story here and there. Walk with me? I'll be a good girl and give the converter back, I promise." She bats her eyelashes at him, speaking in that slightly naughty tone that she usually reserves for her husband.

Against his better judgment, Jack concedes. He wants to know how exactly she knows him and, to be honest, there is something strangely familiar about her. They are both wearing vortex manipulators in plain view of one another, able to lock on to the other's signal, so River really has no chance of getting away from him without physical means. Except she knows his manipulator doesn't work, or so the Doctor said.

The two of them walk casually through the dark, empty museum. "So how did the curator know that someone was going to steal this old thing?" River asks, gesturing to the metal lump under her arm.

"Oh, connections," Jack says conversationally. "People like to brag about certain things."

"So he hired the man who can't die," she mused. "Can't say that was a bad move."

Jack seemed startled by this revelation. "How did you-"

"A story here and there, sweetie. A story here and there." Her smile gets sweeter and more flirty as they move through the exhibits, admiring things dead and long gone. "I have to say I'm surprised that you took on this job."

"Why is that?" Jack replies, keeping a close eye on her throughout their talk.

"You aren't known for aiding criminals."

"Criminals?" Jack's eyebrows shoot up. "What do you know that I don't?"

River stops in her tracks. "This is an energy converter from a Sontaran ship."

"Yes, it is," he replies slowly, not following her.

"The curator plans on selling it back to the First Sontaran Battle Fleet."

Jack blinks, then swears vehemently. "He's been telling the Police Force in this sector that he plans on having it destroyed. Tossed into a star."

"Well obviously not, keeping it in a safe," she says, a bit condescendingly.

"How did _you_ know?"

"People like to brag about certain things." She pauses, then says, "Well?"

"Take it," he replies amicably. "The last thing those walking potatoes need is one of these."

She laughs at this. "Well said." She snakes closer and kisses him on the cheek, enough to leave an imprint of her lipstick, but without a way for it to affect him. He seems inordinately pleased about this and grins. She steps back and begins to program her vortex manipulator. "I'll tell him you said hello," she says conversationally, setting the device to return to the Stormcage.

Jack furrows his eyebrows, curious and half-hoping something almost impossible. "Who?"

River only winks at him. "May we meet again, Face of Boe."

And with that, she was gone.


	8. Stormcage

An anonymous reviewer calling themselves "smokeydog" gave me the idea for this chapter. Thanks to whoever you might be!

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><p>"This has gone on long enough, Miss Song!" The guard's voice echoed eerily down the corridor. She had run out of sight just a moment ago, but now she was gone. Again.<p>

The guard frowned and walked to the nearby telephone, phoning the security office. The angry head of Stormcage security answered, practically yelling into the phone. "What do you mean she's gone?"

The guard swallowed. "She's gone, sir. I don't know how-"

"Hold on! Blast it- what's she doing?" The head guard, named Tyron, roared half to himself, half to the men around him who were scrambling to monitor the surveillance system. "Is that the camera in corridor 5?"

"Sir?"

"Now she's in the mess hall... She's breaking into the employee kitchen! Get yourself down there!"

"Yes, sir!" The guard slammed the phone down and took off running.

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River grinned as she cut herself a neat piece of the imported, Alfava Metraxian triple chocolate cheesecake that was meant for the employees and guards of the Stormcage. She really shouldn't be so mean to the poor guard man; he'd only been here three weeks, but hazing each of them in turn was so much fun. And she got cheesecake in the process.

The guard fumbled with his keys at the door of the kitchen. She grabbed a nearby bottle of wine and sighed, pressing a few buttons on her hidden vortex manipulator before disappearing with a plate in one hand and a fork in the other.

The man burst in to find nothing but a cheesecake on the counter with a large slice missing.

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River set herself down on her bed in the cage they'd been so kind to give her when she was imprisoned here. She had snuck out of her cell earlier in the day to infiltrate the room of items that were routinely confiscated from the inmates. They had her vortex manipulator in a safe! A safe! The cheek of it. Like she couldn't break into a safe.

She took a bite of the cheesecake and made a sound of happiness when it melted on her tongue. Alfava Metraxian cheesecake of any kind was legendary, but the triple chocolate was their best seller. She crossed her legs in a ladylike fashion when she heard the guard's footsteps echoing up the hallway.

The man slowed to a crawl, breathless and very cross in front of her cell. "Miss Song, is this really necessary?"

"Whatever do you mean?" she asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

He glared at her. "You're meaning for me to get in trouble."

"I mean nothing of the sort," she replied earnestly. She offered the plate to him from far behind the bars. "Cheesecake?"


	9. All Your Fault

"This is all your fault, you know," Amy grumbled, watching River pick up the package of diapers that she just dropped on the floor.

"I didn't do anything," River said innocently, placing the package in the cart and pushing it along. "You're the one who insisted on coming shopping."

"That isn't what I meant!" she declared, pointing to her extremely swollen belly. "This baby is _your_ fault!"

"How is it _my_ fault? I didn't force you and dad to have another baby," she said innocently, picking two cans of powdered baby formula off the shelf. "I only suggested it."

"Yeah, and now I look like a whale!" Amy moaned, waddling down the aisle. "My ankles hurt all the time, none of my bras fit anymore, and your father is running around the house like a chicken with his head cut off, baby-proofing everything in sight!"

"Well you _are_ due in less than a week," River pointed out. "You can't blame him. He's just excited. It's a boy this time."

"I know, I know," Amy frowned, hands on the small of her back. "He keeps going on about doing father-son things all the time. Except when he gets here, Rory won't know what to do with him."

River laughed, pushing the cart down the next aisle. "Why do you say that?"

"You know why! Your dad spent his whole childhood growing up with- well, us! He knows how to deal with girls, not members of his own species." Amy groaned as a particularly bad stab of pain reached her right ankle. "I'm not sure how much longer I can stay standing, River."

"That's alright, we're almost done," River assured soothingly. She grabbed paper towels off the shelf and tossed them into the half-full cart. "All done, let's get to the checkout and get you home to rest those feet."

Amy would never admit it, but River had been a blessing for the last week. Rory, as she'd previously mentioned, had been running in circles left and right and it was driving Amy crazy. She loved him to bits, but her pregnancy hormones, something that she didn't have to deal with last time, made sure she was crazy one second and sad the next. This baby was a lot of work, much more than River had been, even just carrying it. She'd been in a body made of flesh when she was pregnant with River, an easy and care-free pregnancy. She briefly thought that, had it not been so traumatizing, it should be a futuristic way for mothers to enjoy their pregnancies symptom free until the birth.

River calmly pushed the cart only as fast as her mother could walk. She had much more patience in this regeneration than she had when she was Mels. "Has dad given in to the name you picked yet?"

"I don't think so," Amy replied, tired yet determined. "But this baby is going to be named Vincent whether he likes it or not. Rory can pick the middle name."

River only laughed. "You never really gave me a middle name."

"I know," Amy said, thinking back on the birth of her daughter. "Mels didn't have a middle name, so..." She trailed off as they approached the counter. Suddenly, her eyes went wide and a hand flew to her stomach. "R-river!"

River paused in moving the food and supplies to the conveyor belt. "Yes- Mom?"

Amy braced herself against the magazine rack to her left. "It's time, call Rory! And maybe an ambulance would be good too," she added, gritting her teeth. "My water definitely just broke."

"In the store, honestly," River said, looking at her mother's stomach and speaking to her brother. "You're already trouble!" She fished her mother's cell phone from her pants pocket and dialed for an ambulance. Between calls, she observed her mother pacing back and forth. She and Rory had read about a hundred parenting books, many of which stated that walking while in labor sped the process considerably.

Satisfied that her mother hadn't completely lost her mind, she quickly dialed her father. "Dad?"

Rory swallowed the bite of sandwich that he was enjoying, turning down the volume on the TV to better hear his daughter. He'd just finished putting together a wooden rocking chair for Amy to rock their son to sleep in. "River? What's wrong?"

"Mum just went into labor in the middle of the store. The ambulance is on its way. We'll meet you at the hospital."


	10. The Byzantium

Sneaking onto a category four Galaxy Class Star Liner wasn't nearly as easy as it sounded. Doing it in four inch heels and a dress was almost impossible.

River smiled indulgently at Alistair, her rather dashing acquaintance that currently had her swept into a dance. He had interrupted her foray across the dance floor, cutting off her intended trip to the "ladies' room". No doubt he'd found the guard that had fallen pray to her wiles. Ah well. They knew one another from elsewhere, strictly business, you understand, and he cursed under his breath when the curly haired woman managed to get away from him. She crept through the ballroom and found her way into the halls of the cruise liner. _Perfect__._

The home box was really the only way to get _him_ here, she thought. It wasn't very difficult to break into the room containing the mysterious black box. The security guards all over the ship were looking for her, but she was significantly more subtle and sneaky than they were. Hallucinogenic lipstick did wonders. Never mind that she got to smooch some of the more attractive guards.

Picking up a bit of Old High Gallifreyan hadn't been hard; she'd been adamant that the Doctor teach her once the time for killing him had passed. She was half Time Lord, after all. He seemed reluctant to teach her, but dove right in when he realised that he would be able to speak it aloud with someone else once again. It was a complex but beautiful language, equally as difficult to write as to speak.

And of course, she knew the Byzantium was going to crash. She was a time traveller, how could she possibly pass up such a chance? Crashing into the Maze of the Dead, an archaeologist's dream, only made better by the presence of a Weeping Angel. She wasn't afraid of them. (Though in hindsight, she probably should have been. They almost killed her mother.) She wouldn't pass on this for the world, even if she had to sneak onto a cruise liner to get there.

She was lucky Father Octavian didn't ask questions. He might have had her arrested again for stowing away and defacing private property.


	11. Forgotten

Set directly after A Good Man Goes To War, when River takes her parents back home.

Dedicated to mericat, who is all around wonderful, and who accidentally gave me this idea.

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><p>"Mother, please-"<p>

"No!" Amy screamed, "I don't believe you. You aren't Melody! Let me go!"

"Amy, stop!" Rory tried to help River restrain her, but she was much stronger than she looked.

"I want my baby!" the ginger woman screamed, kicking her feet in the air when Rory managed to lift her around the waist and drag her back into the house. "I. WANT. MY. BABY!"

"Don't you think I want her back too?"

Amy fell limp as Rory's voice reached her ears. He carefully put her down on the hardwood floor. They were in Amy's house, the house she grew up in with her parents, only they were not currently at home. River stood in the doorway, watching her own parents carefully.

Amy turned her tear-stained face to her husband, eyeliner running down her cheeks like black waterfalls. "We have to get her back, Rory."

Rory rubbed his eyes. "The Doctor is looking for her. You know that."

"But what if he doesn't find her?" Amy pressed, voice growing shrill. "What if they do tests on her? What if they poke and prod her like some-"

"That won't happen," River interrupted softly. Amy turned her eyes to the curly haired woman, guarded and distrusting. "The Doctor wouldn't let that happen."

"Except you already know!" Amy said, approaching the other woman in an attempt to shove her out of the house. River did not budge an inch. "You know exactly what happens to my baby. Now tell me. Does he bring her back?"

"I can't tell you that-"

"YES YOU CAN," Amy roared, shoving the archaeologist back outside. Rory ran forward to grab his wife's arm, before she decided to do something even more stupid. "She's my baby!"

River watched her mother with caution. The woman was trembling violently, so close to breaking down that her composure was cracking with every passing second. "You know that I can't tell you. But your daughter _will_ be safe."

"This is all his fault," Amy whispered. "She'd be here if it wasn't for him."

River's face took on an ashen pallor. "Don't you blame the Doctor for this."

Amy's face hardened. "Well it's his fault, isn't it? I would have my baby if it wasn't for him! If he hadn't asked us to go to stupid Utah-"

"If he hadn't asked us to go to Utah, I would have never grown into the person I am today," River said confidently. She couldn't tell them she was Mels, or that she was meant to kill the Doctor. They didn't know yet. She would have never grown up around the Silence, been in the astronaut suit, gone to Berlin... Fell in love with the Doctor. "I can't regret that."

"You can't regret not being a normal child?" Rory asked carefully, walking up beside his wife.

River shook her head. "I would have still been half Time Lord. I was growing inside you when you went to Utah. I couldn't have been normal. Not really."

"So what, this was _easier_?" Amy spat, furiously wiping her face of makeup and smudges.

"No," River said, surprising them both by the tears filling her eyes. "It wasn't easier. Not at all. But you know what he's like. I wouldn't change a thing."

Amy opened her mouth to speak, but Rory interrupted her. "I think... What she's trying to say, Amy... Is that you both are the same."

Amy wheeled to face her husband. "The same? How are she and I the same?"

"We both grew up believing in the Doctor," River said sternly. She could let that one little thing slip; they wouldn't know the significance of it until much later. "You remember that day he crashed into your backyard. You told me that story. My past, your future." She paused watching Amy's unreadable face. "I grew up believing in him too. Make what you will of that statement, but it's true. He isn't a fairytale and he isn't perfect. But he's real. And he doesn't let them win."

Rory carefully put an arm around his wife's shoulders. They saw Amy visibly calm down and were relieved. River began punching in coordinates on her vortex manipulator, blinking her tears away. "I'll come check on you both, yeah?"

"Sure," Amy said, voice hollow.

"Yeah, any time," Rory said, more amicably.

They watched with muddled emotions as River finished and quickly blinked out of sight.


	12. Lipstick

After a long afternoon of fighting anything and everything evil that the Universe had to offer on this particular day, The Doctor and River returned to the TARDIS in the midst of a heated discussion. The native peoples on Crafalla 5 had no idea what the couple were talking about, but they bade them farewell with many thanks for saving their planet. The two bounded into the TARDIS, energized and arguing.

"Your hallucinogenic lipstick doesn't work on me."

"Oh, you don't think so, sweetie?"

"Of course it doesn't," he replied. "I'm a Time Lord, we are immune to ninety-seven percent of the known hallucinogens in the Universe." He pressed a finger to her nose, then proceeded to dance around the TARDIS console and set the ship off for another place and time.

"Why don't we test that, if you're so sure," River suggested, snaking her way around to the Doctor's front.

He swallowed. "Uh, well... That is, that would involve... Humany-ish things."

River laughed. "Fine then, but I'm right."

"Right about what?"

"Right that you'd be affected by my lipstick. You'd only refuse if you knew it would work."

"That's not true!" He protested loudly, working his jaw. She crossed her arms in expectation. "Fine then," he said finally. "One test!"

River grinned and grabbed his shirt, pulling him into a long kiss full of flailing on his part. When she finally let go, The Doctor stumbled back and righted himself. "There, then. No hallucinations, you see!" He walked around the console once more, landing the time machine and talking half to himself and half to River.

She only smirked and walked back out of the TARDIS to wherever they'd landed. He'd figure out eventually that he was really talking to the stairs.


	13. School Is All Wrong

Chronologically speaking, this chapter occurred before Chapter 5. Enjoy!

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><p>"Excuse me, Professor?"<p>

The history Professor that the woman was addressing lifted his head from the book on his desk. His office hours were almost never frequented by students, so he was surprised to see one at his door. "Oh, hello! Please, come in. Can I help you with something, Miss...?"

"Song," she said sweetly, sitting at the chair across from his desk. "River Song. I have your History 366 class." River had quickly become something of interest to a large bit of the faculty at Luna University. She scored perfect marks on everything set in front of her, from math to science to English, and even more obscure subjects like philosophy and quantum physics. It was astounding. She had become somewhat of an archaeology prodigy as well, accurately placing artifacts by home planet, species of origin, and even so close as a century in age. It was no wonder that the University had offered to pay her entire tuition for however long she remained there.

"Ah, yes, I remember you," he said, placing a bookmark in his book. It was amazing that paper books even existed anymore, but there were always cycles of retro fashion, bringing back things that had been gone for ages. This particular volume was his favorite Agatha Christie mystery, but he put it aside. "What can I do for you, River?"

"I had a question about something that you went over in class yesterday," she said. "You mentioned that humans came into contact with aliens in the year 3020."

"Yes I did," he replied. "The Silurians they called themselves."

"Yes, but that's wrong."

The Professor raised his eyebrow at her. "Pardon me?"

"The Silurians evolved on Earth before humans did; they weren't aliens at all. Besides, Earth had been running into aliens for thousands of years before that. I know that humans tend to ignore what's right in front of them, but surely the records go back further than 3020."

The Professor furrowed his eyebrows. "Are you questioning my sources, young lady?"

"I don't have to," River replied. "I was there." The Doctor had been as far back as the conception of life on Earth. They both went back to Berlin in 1942. She had seen the Doctor a few times since beginning her studies at Luna University and he told her stories of aliens from further back on Earth than most people would think. If they knew aliens existed, that is.

"You were- Excuse me, young lady, but I don't have time for this foolishness. If you have a real question then ask it. Otherwise, please leave my office."

River almost bristled, but she kept her voice smooth. "Fine. I'll prove it. When my archaeology study trip comes along, I'll bring you back an artifact from so far in the past, you'll have to believe me."

"Please leave, Miss Song," the Professor said, raising his voice. River only plucked herself from the chair and walked off, intent and determined.

Unbeknownst to her teacher, she knew exactly where to find this artifact - a little place known as Pompeii.

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><p>To clear up a bit of possible confusion, the end of Chapter 5 mentions River taking the circuit boards from Pompeii to "him"; this doesn't actually mean the Doctor, it means the teacher mentioned in this chapter. She has perfect proof for him now. :P I hope that helps!<p> 


	14. Not The End

It's funny, she thinks, that she punched him after all this time.

She's slapped him, sure, for something he hadn't yet done, but this wasn't like that. She's just trying to keep him from being an idiot. She can't bear the thought of losing him, not now, not after so long. He's sure to be cross with her when he wakes. Bless.

River sits in the chair a good distance from him, hooking up cords and attaching electrodes. He taught her so many things. So many wonderful things. She's such a different person now than when she was a child, when she was Mels. Back then, she was full of energy and flippant resistance to authority. She tried to kill him, and then she saved him, because her parents couldn't bear to see him die. But that wasn't _completely_ the truth, she knows. It was because he was so alive, even while dying. Because he tried to save her parents at the cost of his own life, proving to her that he was not this evil being that she had been taught to fear and murder. She gave her lives for him, and she was about to do it again.

It was funny to her, that she should repeatedly save the man she was raised to kill. It was the most hilarious form of irony, when she thought about it. Even more ironic was the fact that she fell in love with him.

She would never tell this version of him that they got married at Darillium. Technically married twice, once at Darillium and once on top of a pyramid while time was disintegrating, but she wasn't counting. The pyramid wedding didn't count anyway. Not really. Did it? She didn't think so. It was an alternate reality, after all.

And the best part was, she wouldn't change a second of it. She wouldn't change being kidnapped as a baby, or being kept prisoner by the Silence. Never would she regret being able to grow up beside her parents, or save the Doctor's life. Never.

There was so much pain, but also so much happiness. She remembered the last time she spoke to her father, one of the rare times when her emotionless shell broke away to reveal the vulnerable, lovestruck woman inside.

"_Every __time __we __meet __I __know __him __more__, __he __knows __me__ less__. __I __live __for __the __days __when __I __see __him__. __But __I __know__ that __every__ time __I __do __he__'__ll __be __one __step __further __away__."_

The worst part about that, she thinks, is that he knew this was coming. Perhaps it was because he couldn't warn her, or didn't want to. Expecting it wouldn't have made it hurt any less. The anticipation might have even made it worse. So he didn't tell her, and maybe that was a blessing. But she sees the Doctor, this young Doctor, beginning to stir from his place on the floor, and she knows what she must do.


	15. Easter Island

The TARDIS landed with an unceremonious thump on a patch of grass somewhere on the famed Easter Island. River eagerly ran down the steps, but the Doctor caught her arm before she bolted out the door.

"Be careful, River. There are natives here, they might possibly be violent."

"Don't worry sweetie, I've got my gun," she said with a smile, patting the blaster on her hip. The Doctor eyed it disapprovingly as his wife-of-sorts exited the spaceship. He quickly followed her for several minutes, only to discover that he was correct: there were most certainly natives here and they were most certainly violent.

A large group of them, some carrying spears and others small knives made of rock, surrounded the both of them, eyeing them with caution. Many of them, all men by River's reckoning, had paint on their faces, piercings through all parts of their bodies, and skimpy clothes that even she wouldn't be caught dead in. The Doctor held up his hands and carefully stood in front of River. He would have no harm come to her if he could help it. "Hello!" he said cheerfully. "I'm the Doctor, and this is River. It's very nice to meet you all!"

Two of the men leaned together, and River caught them saying something to the effect of 'why do they speak our language?' and 'the woman has curly hair!'

"Excuse me?" River asked sweetly, and every set of eyes turned on her. "Is there something _wrong_ with my hair?"

Instead of replying, the group quickly condensed around the pair of time travellers. "We mean you no harm!" The Doctor insisted, pushing River back toward the TARDIS. "She means you no harm!"

One of the closest men spoke, "The woman of the hair that dances like fire, she is a demon!"

"A demon?" The Doctor sputtered out. "She is not a demon, although, _although_-"

River smacked the hand that the Doctor was pointing at her with. "I am not a demon!" she insisted. "I'm a... Well, almost a human."

"A demon!" The group screeched, closing in on them.

"No, no! Wait! Uhhh..." The Doctor was never good at excuses on the fly and, without realising exactly what he was doing, wrapped a hand around River's waist and announced, "You can't take her! She isn't a demon, she's my, uh... Woman!"

"Ooh, Doctor," River said flirtatiously, curling into his touch. "Yes please-"

"She is a demon! She will be burned as a sacrifice to the Gods!"

"Okay, um, sure, but first..." There was a pause, and the time travellers began to run. The strange island men chased them with terrifying shrieks and battle cries. The Doctor quickly snapped his fingers and River rushed after him into the TARDIS, once the old girl was in view. The blue doors slammed shut and the both of them quickly had the TARDIS back in the Time Vortex before the natives quite knew what was going on.

The Doctor breathed a visible sigh of relief. "I thought they were going to eat you."

"That's better than being burned alive?" she asked dismissively, half amused and half serious.

"No, I suppose not," he mused, fiddling with the controls. River quickly crossed to him and grabbed his bow tie seductively, garnering his full attention.

"So what's all this I hear about my being your woman?"


	16. Birthday

If the baby's first name looks familiar, that's probably because I stole it from my story "Demons' Run". Mostly because I think it's an awesome name that Amy really would pick.

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><p>If Rory was running around like a chicken with its head cut off before, now he was Godzilla, stampeding through a hospital at the speed of light, knocking over anything and everything that was in his way. He rushed to the maternity ward as quickly as he could. He didn't work at this particular hospital, but he knew the layout because of his baby research. He skidded to a halt at the counter, the woman behind it looking expectantly at him.<p>

"Which room is Amy Williams in? I'm her husband," he spoke hurriedly.

"Ah, yes! Room 578, Mr. Williams, just down that way," the woman pointed to her left and Rory nodded a thank you, speeding off toward his wife and daughter and, soon, newborn son.

He burst into the room and saw Amy sitting up in bed, River clutching her hand tightly. The anesthesia team had just arrived and Amy was getting her epidural, to reduce the pain. She opened her eyes a slit and cried out when she saw Rory, who crossed to her side in an instant. He kissed her head and her face and her spare hand, asking her how much it hurt. She frowned and almost left bloody fingernail marks when they inserted the needle into her back.

Moments later it was finished. Amy lay back down on the bed and a sudden, pleasant feeling of weightlessness filled her body. She could barely feel the pain now, but she knew it would come back. River and Rory each stood on a side of her, holding a hand. "She's been very brave so far," River said, proudly.

"Of course she's brave," Rory said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"This is all _your_ fault," she said, glaring at her husband. He only grinned.

"It's a baby, Amy. It's both our faults."

Amy screwed her eyes shut as a particularly bad contraction hit her full force. "I hate you," she murmured.

Rory kissed the back of her hand. "No you don't."

xxxxxxxxxx

A mere three hours later, the nurse returned and checked Amy's progress. To Rory's delight and Amy's dismay, the woman said it was finally time to push.

"You can do it, Mother," River said, still holding Amy's hand. "This baby will be wonderful."

"Oh yeah, and I bet you know all about it, don't you?" Amy said angrily. "I bet you knew this was gonna happen!"

River only grinned. "What if I did?"

Rory frowned. "You've seen him already?"

"He's wonderful," is all that she would say.

Amy couldn't remember much about the process after it was done. It was painful, of course, but they said you couldn't remember the pain afterward. Surprisingly, the rumors were true, at least in her case. She bore down with gritted teeth and heard her son cry, and everything was suddenly worth it.

Rory cut the umbilical cord this time, inordinately proud of himself for doing so. The nurses took the dark-haired child to be measured and weighed. He was a healthy 7 pounds, 6 ounces. They wrapped him in a blue blanket and the nurse from earlier brought him back to his parents. Amy sat up, sweating and disheveled, but in awe at the child that the woman placed in her arms. It was no less amazing than the first time. Rory stared down at his son, overjoyed that they could finally properly raise a child together. River was beaming just as brightly.

"So, what's his name?" she asked, looking to her father.

"It's Vincent!" Amy replied, before Rory could answer. "Isn't that right, Rory?"

Rory sighed, and glanced at River. "You already know him. What's his name?"

River only smiled knowingly. "I think you already know what it is."

Amy smiled down at her baby boy, who was already fussing a bit from being brought into the world from his warm home. "His name is Vincent Williams."

"He should have a middle name," Rory pressed.

"His sister doesn't," Amy pointed out.

"Don't take away that privilege on my account," River said quickly. "He should have a middle name if you both want him to."

"I don't know," Amy said softly. "I never really thought about one. Did you?"

Rory frowned. "I thought about it, but I never really... Liked any of them."

After a moment of silence, River cleared her throat. "There was a man that the Doctor took me to visit once. A wonderful man. A human, but he was... something. One of the Doctor's closest friends. He became my friend too, in the short time I knew him, before he passed on. Saved my life, actually. His name was Alastair."

"Alastair..." Amy said, tasting the name on her tongue.

"I like it," was Rory's response, surprising his wife.

"Well, Alastair it is then," Amy crooned at her baby, brushing his cheek affectionately with her finger. "Hello, Vincent Alastair Williams."


	17. Baby On Board

I blame my Writers' Guild Advisor for this. I wanted to post this 2 weeks ago, but I couldn't think of a good thing to do. So kudos to Karen for giving me this idea.

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><p>It had been three days since the TARDIS had tried to tell him something.<p>

He ignored her, as usual; it was something on her screen that he did not bother reading. If it was really that important, she would have given him a mauve alert by now. Amy and Rory were asleep in their bed, after ten whole minutes of Amy attempting to translate the Gallifreyan on the screen. Eventually, she gave up and retreated to dreamland with her husband.

He was striding past the screen on his way to the kitchen for some Jammie Dodgers when he caught sight of his name on the screen. Normally, the TARDIS did not address him by name, so this caught his attention. Finally, after much insistence on the time machine's part, he turned to the screen and read the words there.

He paused. "What...?" He read the words over and over again, just in case his eyes were going wonky or he was seriously sleep deprived and did not realize it. But no. The words stayed there, just as prominent after one blink as the next.

"WHAT?" he roared, pulling a lever to find out the exact details of what the TARDIS was showing him. And there it was, blinking contentedly on the screen like- well, like a child.

"I'm... pregnant?"

His incredulity echoed through the control room and down the attached corridors. How was this possible? He hadn't... Not with anyone! Certainly not a man! A quick scan of the supposed child told him that it was full Time Lord. But he was the only full Time Lord left.

This did not make any sense. Time Lords were loomed, not created in the way that humans created the next generation. He, like all other Time Lords, was sterile. It was possible for a Time Lady to carry a child physically, of course, but he wasn't a Time Lady. Or human. Or anything that could get _pregnant._

He wondered if the TARDIS was malfunctioning. Five hours and a badly bruised foot later told him that no, she was functioning perfectly. Well, as perfectly as an over nine-hundred year old time machine could.

He ran to the emergency bay and set up the ultrasound machine after quite a bit of fumbling. Sure enough, there it was, very small and with two hearts. Less than two Earth months along. He stared at the moving picture for almost an hour.

Finally, he walked slowly back to the console room, contemplating this new development. How was he supposed to carry this thing? He had no womb. How was he supposed to give birth? Through a C-section? And what was this anyway, self-fertilization? Was he a biology specimen now? How was he supposed to _raise_ it? Or take care of it? Or feed it, or keep it safe? How was he supposed to be a Dad again?

The sonic screwdriver in his hand disappeared into his jacket pocket and he slumped into the chair next to the console. How was this possible? Even if Time Lords eventually evolved into seahorses, that did not mean that he personally evolved. The idea was ridiculous. Impossible, even.

He ran a hand down his face in exasperation. _How__?_

At that moment, the air inside the TARDIS became charged and a curly-haired woman popped into being just down the stairs. "Ooh, this doesn't look like the Alpha Sky Bar in Alfava Metraxis," she said sweetly, hopping up the steps. She was about to deliver her classic line when she saw the Doctor's face: pale, confused, and extremely frightened. "Doctor? Sweetie, what's wrong?" She crossed to his side quickly.

"River..." He barely registered her arrival, rubbing his face with his hands in a scrubbing gesture. "I don't know..."

"What's happened?" she said carefully, laying a hand on his shoulder. "You look terrible."

"I'm..." He paused, willing his voice not to squeak. "The TARDIS says I'm pregnant."

Immediately, River burst into laughter.

The Doctor's face changed to anger. "Why are you laughing? This isn't funny, River! I'm serious! Look!" He jumped from the chair and reached for the screen, pulling it around for his sort-of wife to see.

River eyed the screen carefully. "It doesn't say you're pregnant, sweetie."

"Yes it-" He paused as he gazed upon the screen, which was now very different than before.

The Doctor read it carefully. "'It was River's idea'... What?"

River grinned, running up the stairs to be well out of his reach. "April Fools' sweetie!" She gave him a little wave, then bolted away into the depths of the TARDIS.

The Doctor stood gaping at the console for a very long time, then furiously started after River. She would be getting a punishment for this one.


	18. Egypt

She was still fairly young at this point, and so snatching up a piece of the treasure wasn't yet out of the question.

The Earl of Carnarvon was already suspicious of her, as she knew much more than she let on about this whole mummy business. She accidentally let a thing or two slip once, and he never let her alone since. Always asking questions, never letting her out of his sight for more than a few moments. He'd put their tents next to each other if he had his way.

Putting the cobra in Carter's canary cage wasn't hard. There were meant to be rumors of an Egyptian curse, after all. The Curse of the Pharaohs. She may as well help the ghosts.

She slipped a ring or two into her pocket. The opened tomb still held many treasures, so many, that they would not miss one or two. River also snatched up a pretty, jeweled necklace. The Pharaoh's wife would not miss it. There were hidden compartments in the walls of the rooms which held these treasures; she could disturb as many as she liked and when they discovered it, she would be long gone.

"Miss Song, are you in here?"

River quickly straightened up and shouted her reply, "Is that you, Carnarvon? I'm in the Pharaoh's chamber."

A few moments later, the Earl stepped into the chamber. He was a tall, thin man with a bushy mustache, and he eyed her carefully from beneath a tan hat. "You should not be in here by yourself, Miss Song. What if the tomb were to cave in?"

"I'm sure the cave would not be so rude," she replied, turning her torch to a dark corner of the tomb. "I suspect there are more treasures here. Somewhere."

"That may be so," he mused. "The Egyptians made sure their dead were rich in every sense of the word."

"Ah, well," she said, brushing sand from her arm. "Perhaps we can investigate another time, when more people can be put to the task." She began to walk past him, but he grabbed her arm rather roughly. She frowned and tried to pull her arm away, but his gaze and hand held her fast.

"I don't know what you're up to, Miss Song, but I can assure you that whatever you are planning or doing will be stopped."

She smiled sweetly and jerked her arm away. "When you have proof of these allegations, come talk to me. Until then, let's keep our questionable ramblings to ourselves, shall we?"

River stalked away. The idea of the curse came into her mind yet again. Carnarvon would die next year, from blood poisoning. She did not like the idea of staying in this place for that long, but she did not have to. She pulled the sleeve of her shirt up and punched several buttons on her manipulator. In an instant, she was gone. One more instant, and she had returned, looking precisely the same, only with an enormous grin on her face.

There was no Curse of the Pharaohs, really. Just a woman who knew a bit more than she should.


	19. Doctor River Song

At first, she thought he wasn't there.

It was graduation day, and after so much work, they were about to make her a Doctor. After a Bachelor's, a Masters, and now a Ph.D at Luna University, she was going to be Doctor River Song. She liked the sound of that. It sounded... professional? No, it sounded unprofessional, like _him_. She liked it.

She sent him a message on the psychic paper, now that she knew how to do it. Gave him the date, the time, the place and hoped he would come. She wanted him to be there. She loved him, but it was more than that. It was his influence that turned her into what she was. Melody Pond was meant to kill the Doctor, but she saved him instead. She became her own person. She went to school, she learned, she travelled. She did amazing things. And now, those things were going to be recognized in front of thousands of people. She wanted him to be there, but he was nowhere to be seen.

As the ceremony began, she discreetly looked around the large auditorium, but saw nothing. Not a bow tie or a TARDIS. She sighed. Minutes turned into an hour, and finally it was time to present the degrees to the students. As a recipient of a Ph.D, she would be in the first group. The man who was the President of the University called up her group and announced that a very special guest would be handing out the diplomas to them.

And there he was, in a stupid black graduation gown and a stupid black graduation hat and enough tassels to satisfy a dozen kittens.

He hopped up on stage and waved to the entire crowd. "Hello everyone!" he spoke into the microphone with a wave. "I'm... Well, I'm the Doctor! And it's my honor to give these clever people the right to be doctors too." He grinned and stepped away from the mic, busying himself with the right order of the wrapped pieces of paper and chatting to the line of people that would be shaking every person's hand.

River's face burned with a mixture of happiness and anxiety. She knew he would do something once she got up there, but she had no idea what. Even so, she was glad he was here.

As the line came to a close (she was toward the end, for her last name started with an 'S'), they finally came to her. She approached the Doctor, who handed her the diploma with the biggest smile on his face. River returned it and took the rolled up piece of paper. She thought that maybe he was done, but no. He enveloped her in a hug, halting the line, and said, "I'm proud of you, River."

Without quite understanding why, tears sprang to her eyes, but she quickly blinked them back. She returned his gesture happily. "Thank you, sweetie." He pulled back and kissed her on the forehead, smiling brightly. She grinned mischievously, then grabbed his black robe and pulled him in for a kiss on the lips.

Half the crowd gasped, the other half cheered and laughed. The Doctor flailed helplessly until she was finished, then abruptly straightened his over-clothes. "Ahem. That was inappropriate, River."

"You liked it," she said, walking away and down the line of people whose hands she was meant to shake. They were all staring at her instead.

At the end of the line of people, she paused and turned around, waving the diploma over her head. "Doctor!"

The Time Lord had been handing a diploma to someone else and turned to see what she could possibly want now. "What?" he mouthed.

The microphone was conveniently nearby and she leaned around the Luna University President to say, "There's more where that came from!"  
>The auditorium burst into cheers and laughter as she sashayed off the stage in a way that only Doctor River Song could, leaving the Doctor both embarrassed and pleased, and unsure why.<p> 


	20. Flirting

This chapter is... well, because River's awesome, really. I can't think of any other reason.

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><p>River and the Doctor were on a planet known as Pytraxia Six, known for its tourism and emulation of B.C. Earth societies. They were walking down the street in a huge section of the planet that was one long outdoor market, something like a cross between Egyptian and Arabian cultures.<p>

It was dusty outside today. The Doctor continually got sand in his mouth from opening his gob too often. River chose to observe the planet's custom of having women wear a cloth chador, but only because it protected her head and mouth against the dirt. The two happily walked for a while among the stalls, but it wasn't long before the Doctor began to notice a pattern.

"River, stop that," he chided under his breath.

"Stop what, sweetie?" She gazed at him innocently. "What do you think, does it match my eyes?" She dangled a pretty necklace next to her face. The Doctor swiped it from her and returned it to the man running the stall. The Time Lord then quickly walked away, toward the next stall, and River soon followed him.

"Doctor!" River replied, hitting him on the arm playfully. "How rude, that was a gift!"

"You're only getting gifts," he said, irritated, "because you're flirting with all of the stall operators!"

"So?" She replied. "They give gifts of their own accord. I don't ask for them. Flirting doesn't hurt anyway; it's certainly not hurting _you_."

The Doctor huffed and fell silent, not deigning to reply.

At the next stall, River flirted her way into getting a decorative scarf that she stuffed down her shirt before the Doctor noticed. Three stalls later, as the Doctor was admiring a piece of carefully crafted glass that doubled as a bookend, River schmoozed the stallholder out of a small bottle of the planet's famous spirits. Alcohol, that is. She smiled and blew the man a thank you kiss. The man grinned from ear to ear.

"River!" The Doctor reached for the bottle, but River moved it out of his grasp. "I told you to stop that!"

"It isn't hurting you!" She said again, beginning to let a small amount of irritation surface. "Unless... You're jealous?"

He sputtered, getting more sand in his teeth. "I am _not_ jealous!"

"You _are_!" she declared loudly, teasing him. "Oh Doctor, you don't have to be jealous. You know that you're my only love."

"I'm not jealous!" he declared, wiping his mouth of the sand and dirt on his lips. He took off walking and she followed him.

"I think you are!" she sing-songed.

"Look, just because you're pretty-"

"Oh, you think I'm _pretty_ now?" River teased.

"Err..." The Doctor trailed off, clearly trapped. "That isn't what I meant!"

"But it's definitely what you said!" she replied, giving a sly wink to a fruit vendor on the corner of the street. The man grinned and tossed her a purple fruit with a red stem on the top.

The Doctor threw his arms into the air and more sand flew into his mouth. "I give up! I'll be in the TARDIS."


	21. UNIT

River's pretty young in this one. She hasn't learned all of her tricks quite yet.

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><p>River rifled through the desk drawers around her, but found nothing of interest. It wasn't often that she got to sneak around top secret military headquarters.<p>

Okay, that wasn't _quite_ true, but it _was_ true that she didn't often get to do it with a member of said military personnel willingly helping her out. But she was sure the Doctor had something to do with that.

Those two were off somewhere, investigating a different sector of the facility. One would think that having a UNIT member on board would make this type of mission easier, but she hadn't seen proof of that yet. They were investigating a small number of UNIT personnel that were suspected alien criminals, but only the three of them suspected a thing. The other UNIT soldiers just looked at them like they were barmy.

The three criminals were scientists that had made several consecutive "breakthroughs", ones that were not meant to be made on Earth for another twenty years. The Doctor expected Zygons more than any other alien species, but he was not completely certain. He didn't want her to assist them at the beginning - saying something about how she was far too young and this was too dangerous - but she muscled her way in anyway.

She crept to another office and broke in easily. All of these rooms looked the same to her. She never much liked offices; too stuffy and plain. The offices of scientists were slightly more interesting, except that they were in 2007 and everything that had been developed at this point in history was completely ancient to her. She preferred to excavate the past, get down in the dirt and grime, not to read it on a GoogleWiki page. Records were too well-kept for this time and place to interest her.

As she moved on to a rather interesting and hidden laboratory, she heard quick footsteps echoing down the hall. She quickly broke into the room and hid behind a lab bench. She almost cursed aloud when the person, whoever they were, came into the room.

The scientist, for she could see their white lab coat from beneath the bench, froze when he or she realised that their lab had been broken into. River saw them take a blaster from their pocket - a blaster of Zygon design - and she almost cursed again. "Come out," said the scientist in a woman's voice. "I am armed. I will shoot if I have to hunt through this place for you."

River silently pulled her own blaster from her pocket. Or rather, she _would_ have, except that she remembered too late she'd given it to The Doctor's friend as protection. "_Blast it..._" Defeated, she raised her hands and slowly stood from the floor.

The Zygon disguised as a woman spotted River and quickly turned the blaster on the half Time Lord's head. "Don't worry," said the Zygon soothingly. "This won't hurt much."

River screwed her eyes shut as the sound of a blaster reached her ears. After a moment, when she felt no pain, she opened her eyes to find The Doctor's friend standing in the doorway with her smoking blaster and a dead Zygon on the floor. The creature had reverted back to its original form, all slimy and covered with strange suckers like an octopus or a squid.

River could have sighed with relief. She had no regenerations left and she wasn't quite ready to die just yet. "That was close," she said, speaking to the man. "You saved my life. Thank you, Alastair."

Brigadier Sir Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart merely gave her a smile and a salute of the hand. "My pleasure, madam. My thanks for letting me borrow this. I'm not as young as I used to be."

At that precise moment, frantic footsteps echoed down the hall, ones that could only belong to a certain Time Lord. The Doctor burst into the room. "I heard a gun, what ha- Oh. Squishy oogly Zygon on the floor."

"Yes," River said mildly. "We still need to figure out what they're doing here. Shall we run?"

"Oh, no running," Alastair scoffed. "My bones are too old for running." He handed the blaster back to River. "With all due respect, Miss Song, I think you'd be safer having that than me."

River pretended to be offended while the Doctor carefully inspected the body on the floor. "Well I never!" She sauntered past him, planting an unseen thank-you kiss on his cheek, then ran off before the Doctor could see which direction she'd gone.


	22. Learning Gallifreyan

This is a very young River. Hence the Doctor's extraordinary amount of patience. Haha.

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><p>"So... This is my name?" River asked, tracing the archaic circles and lines of Circular Gallifreyan. After much pestering, the Doctor finally agreed to teach her a few things. They sat in the TARDIS's library at a desk with several sheets of blank paper. The time machine floated through the vortex, blissfully relaxed.<p>

"Yes," he said, pleased. "It says 'River Song'. And this..." He picked up the pen and drew a different set. "This says 'The Doctor'."

"You can't just write your real name?" she asked, taking the pen from him to practice both names.

He only shook his head. "The Doctor _is_ my name."

"Can you show me how to write my parents' names?" she asked, handing him the pen.

"Hmmm, Rory's name is tricky, but..." He scribbled a few things, then looked down at them satisfactorily. "That's about right. Amelia Pond and Rory Williams."

"Hmm," she said, carefully studying them. "Can I learn some real words now?"

"_Real__words_? Names are real words!" he huffed, hurriedly scribbling down a few phrases for her to memorize. It wasn't the kind of language where you combined letters. There were circles and shapes and lines and it was very confusing, but she was doing quite well considering she'd never seen it before.

In short order, he taught her a slew of basic words and how to pronounce them. Writing came afterward, when he was sure she remembered how to say them correctly. Then there was grammar and proper sentence structure. He found it boring, since he knew it all, but she soaked it up like a sponge. Perhaps she had an affinity for languages; he'd never asked.

It wasn't long before she was forming short sentences. He would speak to her in response and she would ask him about a certain word and its meaning. After a while, the Doctor stretched. "I think that's enough for now, River. You've done well."

She beamed. "Thank you, sweetie." River gathered up the papers, making sure to keep them and to copy all of it into her diary later.

He was slightly irked that she already called him sweetie, as young as she was, but if he mentioned it, she'd be sure to do it from then on.

"So..." She sidled up to him seductively. "What should we do now?"

"Um, ah..." He leaned away from her. "That is, I think we should go on an adventure! I'm sure the TARDIS has a place for us to go, right dear?" He patted the wall nearby and the machine gave a sudden jolt, as if landing. "Ah, you see! An adventure!"

He ran off to the console room, River right on his heels. She wasn't going to let him get away _that_ easily, not if she could help it. It hadn't been very long since Berlin, but he was everything that her parents, and her captors, had said he was. Manic and crazy and dangerous and wonderful.

The Doctor ran for the twin doors and threw them open. "Ah- Ha?"

River peeked over his shoulder to find an upscale restaurant outside, one most suitable for a date between two certain people. She laughed uproariously. "It seems like she's on my side, don't you think, sweetie?"

"Bah," the Doctor replied, slamming the doors shut. "Adventures are better."


	23. Let's Kill The Doctor

There was something inherently wrong about this situation.

Her parents were clinging to the Doctor like a couple of forlorn puppies. She had killed him with a kiss, poison lipstick that had been given to her long ago, a time that she couldn't quite remember. They always talked about how the Doctor saved and traveled and cherished everyone and everything.

But the Doctor didn't save. The Doctor maimed and burned and destroyed and laughed while he did it. She knew that. It was a fact. But her parents never saw him that way. Or at least Amy didn't. Amy saw him as a beacon of hope, her best friend. She spent so much time around him, too. Could it be that she was wrong?

Melody felt an overwhelming urge to bury a knife in the Time Lord's heart. She never once stopped to think why exactly she felt that way. She only knew that she wanted to kill him for as long as she could remember. Realising that she didn't know _why_ she wanted to kill him made her question her own motives. If her parents spent so much time with him and thought he wasn't bad, then why did she? She spent next to no time around him.

Melody thought for a moment. If he really was like her parents said, then... Then he would be the most magnificent man in the universe. Admirable, kind, intelligent. The makings of a great man. He said he'd marry her, after all. Perhaps they could fall in love, too.

"Just tell me. The Doctor. Is he worth it?"

Amy's eyes widened as she clung to Rory.. "Yes! Yes, he is!"

Melody lays her hands on the Doctor's dead body and feels the regeneration energy rush into his body. He speaks, something that Amy never hoped to hear again. "River. No. What are you doing?"

River Song smiles. "Hello, Sweetie."


	24. Run

In the prison of the Silence, she dreams.

She dreams of a man who has saved her life a million times. She never sees his face, only hears his voice. Childlike, but soothing somehow. He knows her. She knows him, but she's never quite sure how. And when she wakes, the dream disappears. She doesn't remember a thing.

The Silence build her a spacesuit to live in. It forces her to remember them when she's inside it. It forces her to do a lot of things. Things she doesn't like. Sometimes, it makes her do things she can't remember. She wonders what they've made her do.

When they come for her, she panics. The people in the blue box come for her. She's afraid. The suit won't let her escape, even though she wants to. So she breaks out, pulling wires and stripping connections. And she does what she's wanted to do her entire life.

She runs.

xxxxxxxxxx

Dying isn't really so bad. Not when you have a way to fix it.

The alley is as good a place as any to regenerate. She's surprised she knows how, but it must be something the Silence taught her. Maybe.

She collapses in light of her regeneration. She stayed a girl, that was good at least. She wasn't sure if she could have changed into a boy, but she wouldn't want to. She likes being a little girl.

She walks the streets of New York City, renewed. People watch her walk in the cold, wondering who she belongs to. She doesn't belong to anyone now. Not to those things.


	25. Vincent

"What does this one do?" Vincent grabbed for a brightly colored lever, but River quickly pushed his hand away.

"It's very dangerous to just pull and press things, dear brother," she chided. Vincent was twelve years old now. On the cusp of puberty and becoming more annoying by the minute. He had Rory's hair and Amy's eyes and River didn't think she had ever seen a more adorable little boy.

"The Doctor said I could look at the console!" he protested, clambering up to the seat by the view screen.

"Look at, yes. Touch and cause to explode, no." She took a moment to explain a few things, such as the button that would scan the environment for information relating to the air and toxins that might be contained in it. She explained the function of the time rotor, the thermo-couplings below their feet, and how to choose which date and location to travel to.

The Doctor ran inside and bounded up the stairs, Amy and Rory following him. They were older now, but not quite old enough to have many lines on their faces. "Mom, Dad, can we go on an adventure?!"

"You've got homework to do," Rory frowned. "Did you forget about that?"

"Daaaaad, it's a time machine!" Vincent protested.

"A very unreliable time machine," Amy added, patting the console affectionately.

The Doctor sputtered. "The TARDIS is the greatest time traveling device that has ever existed. She can do anything."

"She couldn't take us to the moon and back in time for dinner," Amy countered.

The time rotor began to move.

"Oh, no! No, stop!" Amy yelled, being thrown back against the railing. Vincent whooped with joy as the time machine spun through the vortex, coming to rest within moments.

Rory peeled himself off of the glass floor. "Everyone alright?"

"Better than alright, that was amazing!" Vincent crowed, jumping from the chair and running toward the double doors.

"Vincent, wait!" The Doctor followed him out the door before either Amy or Rory could stop him.

"Woah..."

The Doctor stepped out onto the moon's gray surface. It was cool, but not unpleasantly so.

"...Why aren't we freezing to death? Or dying of lack of oxygen? Or-"

"TARDIS shield," the Doctor explained.

"Oh," Vincent murmured, staring at the Earth. It was green and brown and the bluest blue he had ever seen, aside from the TARDIS herself.

Amy, Rory, and River exited the time machine behind them, marveling at the scene.

Vincent nudged Amy. "Take it back, Mom."

"Hey now," Amy replied. "She still has to get us back home."


	26. Hello Sweetie

Drawing graffiti on the oldest cliff face in the Universe had been too much fun.

The best part was the Old High Gallifreyan. She knew it would get his attention. Misbehaving always did.

Masquerading as Cleopatra was the best idea she had in a long time. Gorgeous Roman soldiers to wait on her hand and foot, all the food she could want to eat, and being worshiped as a Goddess. This was certainly the life, if a short-lived one.

It was funny, because she recognized her father. Rory was there among the troops, as if nothing was wrong and he belonged in this time. She couldn't say anything to him, of course, but he didn't seem all that convinced that she was Cleopatra. In fact, he said a few things to his superiors about it, but they brushed him off.

She was grateful that they did; her cover couldn't be blown before the Doctor even got here.

Her tent was spacious and comfortable, but the shifting shadows outside made her uneasy. No one got inside without her permission, but all the same...

A voice whispered something from behind her head, a shadow. She spoke. "Yes?"

"I hope you know what you're doing, River." _Rory._

She grinned. "I certainly do, Rory."

The shadow behind her walked off. She continued to smile.


	27. Pardoned

The Counsel of the Stormcage sat in their chairs, overlooking the empty courtroom. They gazed down from the raised dais at the woman they had fought to imprison many years ago. But now they had given her a chance to redeem herself, earn a pardon. They had lost many men in that mission, but she had performed to the satisfaction of the Catholic Church.

"River Song," the middle judge said, looking down at her with disdain. "You have proven that, although you have escaped this place dozens of times, your intentions to fulfill your sentence were true. You have earned your pardon as set forth by the Catholic Church. From this day forward, you are a free woman."

The bailiff holding River in place moved to unlock her handcuffs, to find that they were already undone. River handed them over, to the disapproving scowls of the Counsel.

"Thank you, High Counsel," she said, stepping back as someone walked from a side room to give her the belongings that they had taken from her upon her incarceration. One of these items was a vortex manipulator, which they had found to be a useless piece of equipment to keep from her because she always had a second one secreted away somewhere. "Since I have no vehicle to leave this place, I'll use this, shall I?" She did not wait for their approval.

River typed in the coordinates of Luna University, her Alma Mater. She had her Masters' degree, but was now intent on becoming a Professor and perhaps teaching for a bit. Anything that would keep her out of trouble and away from this place.

She pressed the dematerialization button and disappeared.

The Counsel breathed a sigh of relief. No more break-ins and outs to deal with.


	28. Listen

This is set right after the end of "Angels in Manhattan".

* * *

><p>River waited until he returned to the TARDIS with the last page of the book.<p>

She watched him fold it carefully and place it in his jacket pocket, the same pocket that held the sonic screwdriver. To keep it close to his hearts, he said. Always.

The TARDIS flew through the vortex with no mess or fuss. She knew. She silently wept for the Ponds, in her own time machine way. She touched down somewhere that neither of them had been before, but neither she nor the Doctor made any move to walk out those doors.

River dropped her hand from the screen. "Doctor-"

"You don't have to say anything, River," he said, sitting on the stairs with his hands folded.

"But I do," she said, crossing to kneel next to him. "They loved you at least as much as I do." She placed a hand over his, squeezing gently. "They would never blame you. And neither do I. You know that."

He buried his head in his hands. "That isn't the point. It would be so much... easier if you all blamed me."

"But we won't," she murmured, kissing the crown of his head. "Never ever." She stood and returned to the screen, reading the symbols and discovering just where they had ended up.

He launched himself from his seat, to her surprise, to stand right next to her. She pushed the screen over to let him see, but he was looking at her instead. She eyed him carefully. "Doctor?"

"You know that I..." He worked his jaw nervously in the way that he always did. "...love you, River."

"I know," she said. "If not always in the way I like." She allowed herself a small smile, then hit a button on the screen for the standard environment checks.

"No, no," he grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him. "I love you. I don't say it, I've never... said it, but I love you."

"Sweetie, you don't-"

"I mean it. River Song, I love you. I have for a... long time."

River stared into his face for a good, long moment. She was completely certain it was a lie. She knew he didn't love her like she loved him. She loved him with all the fire of a burning galaxy, deeply and completely. He loved her as a friend, a mate, someone he traveled with sometimes. It was never any more than that.

He sensed her confusion. "I lose everyone, they leave or they die or-" He swallowed. "I love all of them. They are precious to me. But they aren't you. You are... mad. Absolutely bloody mad. I've never met anyone like you, Miss Melody Pond."

River covered his hand with her own. "Sweetie..."

"Don't 'sweetie' me!" He burst out. "Listen!" The Doctor reached up, placed a hand on either side of her face, and kissed her.

She was shocked as she felt the essence of his love pour into her. She was dimly aware of the psychic connection, but it was drowned out by the beating of his hearts, his wonder at her mere existence. His frustration at her constant 'spoilers', his irresistible urge to touch her amazing hair, his sorrow when she decided to leave again. Their lips melted away into a universe where it was just the two of them and nothing more.

River finally responded to the kiss, showing him the loneliness as a child, the want of a friend, the wondrous stories of the Doctor, the man who would always be the one she loved.

They broke apart and she felt her skin glow faintly golden. She panted for air. "I didn't know."

"Now you do," he murmured, leaning his forehead against hers.

"I love you too," she said.

A long minute passed. "Is the planet safe?" he asked, taking her hand.

"Yes, happens to be Jupiter, after it's finally colonized."

"Shall we?" he nodded toward the TARDIS doors.

She grinned. "Yes, please."


	29. Storytime in the Library

It's been forever since I uploaded anything fanfiction related. I feel bad about that, but I've been focusing on my original stories and real life things instead. And as such, this is the (unofficial) last chapter of this story. I may write more in the future if inspiration strikes, but I wrote this chapter a long time ago as the final chapter, and I feel like it's time to share it with you all, especially since it seems like River may be gone for good now. I hope you like it! Thank you so much for reading this! You're all wonderful.

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><p>"River," Charlotte intoned shyly. "Can you tell us a bedtime story about the Doctor?"<p>

"Yes, yes!" Ella and Joshua sat excitedly up in their beds. "Please tell us about the Doctor."

"I always tell you a bedtime story about the Doctor," River replied with a smile. She had stopped counting the days since the young Doctor uploaded her into the Library's data-bank. It was futile, to think he could come back for her, and that they could live all the days that never came. But right now, he was living the days that did come, the days when she lived in a humanoid body instead of a computer. Those days would be special to him. And the thought of time being re-written and losing him made her shudder down to her bones.

"I know," Charlotte said in exasperation. "But the Doctor is interesting! And funny!"

"And he lives in the real world!" Joshua said from his bed.

"Alright, alright..." River conceded, and the children cheered. They snuggled deep into their blankets. "Which story do you want to hear? An old one, or a new one?"

The three children thought for a moment, but River already knew what their answer was going to be. Contrary to what most would expect, there was one specific story that was their favorite, all three of them, and they asked for it over and over again whenever she let them choose. Ella finally spoke up, shyly suggesting what the other two were thinking. "Can you tell us the story of the day where everybody lived?"

River smiled once more and nodded, angelic in her dress of white. "Of course I will. I know how much you love that story."

The children grinned in excitement and fell silent, to listen to the story that had been told to River, and now to them. The story of a Time Agent, a shop girl from London, and the day that everybody lived.


End file.
